Cedric Chao is a trial partner and co-head of the global
international arbitration practice of DLA Piper, a global firm of 4,200
lawyers. Cedric, a former federal prosecutor, has a unique skill set,
having first-chaired numerous US jury and court trials (business
and criminal), as well as international arbitration disputes. He has
represented clients, as first chair, in five business disputes where
the amount in controversy exceeded $1 billion, and in multiple
others where the amount in controversy was in the hundreds of
millions of dollars. His clients have spanned many industries and
countries.

Cedric has appeared in US District Courts in a number of federal
judicial districts and in the trial courts throughout California. He has
argued thirteen times before the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals,
including once to an en banc panel, once before the US Supreme
Court, and four times before the California State Court of Appeal. He has second-chaired four additional
arguments before the Ninth Circuit and one additional argument in the US Supreme Court. Cedric has
led teams in international arbitration proceedings under the rules of the ICC, ICDR, LCIA, UNCITRAL,
AAA and JAMS, and has represented parties in court proceedings to enforce or set aside arbitral awards.
Cedric has sat as an arbitrator under the rules of the ICC and SIAC.

Cedric is a US member of the ICC Arbitration Commission, and serves on the Governing Council of the
American Arbitration Association. He is one of 31 Advisors to the American Law Institute project to draft
the Restatement of the US Law of International Commercial Arbitration. In 2017, he served on the
California Supreme Court International Commercial Arbitration Working Group that studied and made
recommendations to the Supreme Court regarding the possibilities of allowing foreign and out-of-state
attorneys to represent parties in international arbitrations seated in California.
Cedric is a former chair of the US Magistrate Judge Screening Committee of the Northern District of
California and of the California State Bar Litigation Section. He is a former member of the American Bar
Association Standing Committee on the Federal Judiciary, which evaluates all presidential nominees to
the federal judiciary (representing the Ninth Circuit).

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DLA Piper is a global law firm with lawyers located in more than 40 countries throughout the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Asia Pacific, positioning us to help clients with their legal needs around the world.

DLA Piper is a global law firm with lawyers located in more than 40 countries throughout the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Asia Pacific, positioning us to help clients with their legal needs around the world.